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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27816289">Only After Nightfall</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/moonburntmemory/pseuds/moonburntmemory'>moonburntmemory</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>ZKDrabbleDecember2020 [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Avatar: The Last Airbender</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Angst with a Happy Ending, Cuddling &amp; Snuggling, Domestic Fluff, Ember Island (Avatar), F/M, Fluff, Kissing, Non-Explicit Sex, One Shot, Post-The Last Agni Kai (Avatar), Romantic Fluff, Sharing a Bed, Sneaking Around, Steambabies - Freeform, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, ZK Drabble December 2020, like very non-explicit implication is key here, not sure why you’d read this to a kid tho, this is pretty pg nothing graphic we're all good, you could read it to a kid and they’d probably think it’s about wrestling</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-12-01</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-12-31</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-10 17:47:26</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>4</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>4,425</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27816289</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/moonburntmemory/pseuds/moonburntmemory</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Katara could never stay away from Zuko, no matter how hard she tried. </p><p>  <em>It would be like denying soothing salve to a burn, taking off a fur parka amidst a snowstorm in the South Pole, or turning away a mother’s warm hug. Why cause needless suffering?</em></p><p>Day 1: Nightfall<br/>Day 10: Featherlight<br/>Day 22: Stay?<br/>Day 31: Home</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Katara/Zuko (Avatar)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>ZKDrabbleDecember2020 [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/2037616</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>22</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>159</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>ZK Drabble December 2020</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. nightfall</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Day 1: Nightfall of ZK Drabble December</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Katara wouldn’t dare to take such risks under the light of day, where her actions would fall under the judgemental clarity of the sun.</p><p>She wouldn’t take chances during the hours that constituted the realm of the firebenders.</p><p>Only after nightfall, when the moon rose high in the sky and the halls of the Ember Island beach house grew quiet of creaking footsteps, would she find her nerve.</p><p>Throughout the day, she’d steal glances across dinner tables or boisterous conversations when all prying eyes were focused elsewhere, but it wasn’t enough. So she would bide her time and wait until the other inhabitants of the house grew tired to grasp at freedom.</p><p>In the time of her greatest power, under a sky full of silent darkness and twinkling stars, she became emboldened to act on desires that lay dormant beneath the sun’s rays. </p><p>Katara’s loose dark hair cascaded down her shoulders and back, brushing against the sides of her face with a teasing lightness that sent shivers through her. With exaggerated caution, she slid the screen door open before pausing to check whether the noise had alerted anyone.</p><p>Amongst continued silence and the soft tendrils of wind whispering from outside the house, Katara ventured her feet onto the tatami mats, sliding along as silently as possible. If caught, she could always claim she’d been getting a glass of water or something else far more mundane than the scenes playing through Katara’s mind.</p><p>Arriving at the end of the hall, Katara stood in front of the door, debating whether or not to go in. Bathed in Yue’s soft glow from the blown-glass window panes, she sighed softly and knew she was not one to divert from a pattern. Now was not the time to start being spontaneous, especially when it meant breaking <em>this</em> habit. As hard as Katara tried, she’d always end up back here.</p><p>She’d ignored the seemingly otherwordly call that pulsed through her blood and bones for as long as she could, but there was no going back now. It would be like denying soothing salve to a burn, taking off a fur parka amidst a snowstorm in the South Pole, or turning away a mother’s warm hug. Why cause needless suffering?</p><p>With deft fingers clutching carved wooden grooves, Katara slid the door open, wincing slightly at the low sound that echoed through the hallway. Obscured by shadows, the figure in the bed, clutching a pillow and sprawled on his left side, sprung up sleepily.</p><p>“Katara?” he mumbled with heavy grogginess. </p><p>His tense posture relaxed as he sat up and he entered a patch of light peeking through the crimson curtains, illuminating the scarred side of his face previously pressed into the pillow. </p><p>“Hi, Zuko. You have pillow lines on your face,” Katara observed with a small smile, shutting the door and closing the space between her and the bed.</p><p>She climbed into the empty right side of his bed- her side- and snuggled into the soft silk of his blankets, feeling the bare skin of his toned chest brush up against the parts of her stomach uncovered by her sarashi wraps. They fit together well, their height difference causing Katara’s head to align with the crook of his shoulder, a comfortable place to bury her head. Zuko reached his arms out and wrapped them around her torso with instinctual ease borne of the many nights they’d laid here together.</p><p>Reaching over his body, she pettily shoved the pillow onto the ground. A poor stand-in for Katara, if she did say so herself.</p><p>“You’re late. Didn’t think y’were coming tonight,” Zuko whispered into her hair, bringing a knuckle to tuck loose strands of hair behind her ear and caress the angle of Katara’s cheekbone. His touch was tender like a strand of hair brushing against her face, but the tickling undertones were replaced with something much stronger.</p><p>“Sorry, I fell asleep,” Katara explained, bringing her hand to roam his shaggy locks, camouflaged with the darkness of the night surrounding them. </p><p>“I’m surprised the moon didn’t keep you up, <em>Master </em>Katara,” he teased, heavily lidded golden eyes meeting hers with an affectionate gaze that she took a moment to revel in.</p><p>Katara slowly brought her thumb to the left side of his face and traced the now-exposed mottled edges of his scar, causing Zuko to shut his eyes tightly.</p><p>When he first joined the group (and Katara’s opinion of him hadn’t been as positive), Zuko used to hide the scar whenever he could, always shoving the left side of his face as far into Appa’s tail or a pillow as it would go. He still did, wherever he was alone. But not with Katara. </p><p>With her body pressed into his side and a hand twirling through her hair, he’d let himself be vulnerable. For her. </p><p>Scooting up to be level with his face, Katara shifted her hand to trace the outline of his jaw and leaned in so close to his face she could feel his shallow breathing. His eyes opened again to meet earnest eyes colored like the sea on a moonless night amidst the shadows of his bedroom. Katara closed what little space remained between them and pressed her lips into his.</p><p> It was a lazy kiss, one that knew no rush or fumbling of hands that sometimes accompanied these late-night meetings of minds and bodies. It was one of the things she loved most about Zuko, that he was content to talk in hushed tones or share their bodies with each other completely and anything in between, all at Katara’s discretion.</p><p>She was in control of her own fate, something that was becoming less and less of a reality as Sozin’s comet approached. But one good thing came from her possible impending doom: it had gotten her to slide Zuko’s bedroom door open instead of retreating again. </p><p>The kiss was everything she’d longed for in their time apart, cooling salve on a burn, the warmest fur layered to protect against the snow, and a mother’s embrace after years apart. All at once. It was the reason Katara would wander here every night despite the cold grip of fear that often accompanied her wanting. They eventually broke away from each other with a blissful satisfaction that made her content to flip around and slot her back against his chest. Zuko nestled her head into the hollow beneath his chin, intertwining his legs with hers underneath the sheets.</p><p>“I’m glad I met you. If the comet comes and things don’t go our way, I won’t regret anything,” Katara whispered with a soft hesitance.</p><p>Resting against him this way, she couldn’t see the expression on his face, only feel his arms around her tighten before hearing a response so soft she could barely make it out.</p><p>“Me too.”</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>i found out about this challenge on dec 1 (because i'm oblivious) and was super bummed i couldn't participate in the first day. and then my dingbat brain remembered that i live in asia! almost a day ahead of a large part of earth's population! so i wrote with the fervor of an essay due the next day that i had a month to work on and ta-da! thank you for reading!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. featherlight</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Day 10: Featherlight of ZK Drabble December</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>It was paradoxical: seeking out a firebender to cope with the sweltering heat that hung thick in the humid air of the Fire Nation.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>As her dull footsteps faded away into the long hallways and night beyond, the chilled remains of the ice cube in her hair started to drip down the back of her neck, having failed to free her from the oppressive heat.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Still, Katara went through the familiar motions with ease gained from more practice than she was willing to admit to. The sliding of her ornate paper door to the slide and paranoid craning of her head behind her to ensure no one followed.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She’d realized that resistance was futile long ago. The less time she spent wrestling whether or not to go, the more time Katara would have with Zuko before having to slip out in the early morning. Besides, she always ended up in his room, regardless of what she decided.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Although the floors she crept across were now made of stone instead of wood and she had to hide from guards and everyone else in the palace instead of just their friends, it still felt authentic to their roots.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Nostalgic, she might even say. The midnight meetings of the past had been entirely theirs, shrouded in secret and whispers and featherlight touches. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>It had been worth the rapid pounding of her heart every time someone would sneeze or roll off of bed or risk discovering them. Katara was happy to pay the price of rising before even the sun to Zuko’s soft touch because it allowed her to drift off to sleep in his arms. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Currently, however, Katara stood before guards who remained silent in their judgments with faces of stone outside his door. They wordlessly let her stride into his room and shut the door behind her, as ordered. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Their secret was safe but still shared. Katara found herself longing for simpler times, where they had been allowed to possess each other entirely for the night. That had been Katara and Zuko. Now, it was different. No one could possess the Fire Lord.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Katara exited the dimly light hallways of flickering lights and let the comforting darkness of the Fire Lord’s chambers envelop her. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>She supposed that was the dilemma and had been since the very first time she’d slunk into his room, only daring to do so under the darkness of a full moon where even her own shadow had been obscured. Mistakes could be more easily erased when there was no light to see them by. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>It hadn’t been a mistake. Well, Katara didn’t </span>
  <em>
    <span>think</span>
  </em>
  <span> it had. Could something be a mistake if you didn’t regret it?</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She may not regret seeking out Zuko, but she might as well. These childish secrets couldn’t be kept forever. Eventually, they would run out of healing-related excuses for her to stay. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>There would come a day, not so distant, where Katara would have to let him go. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Katara didn’t know if she could. She didn’t even want to imagine the pain, let alone have to feel it. This was why it might be a mistake. Katara would always have her love for Zuko, no one could take it away, but she wouldn’t get to have the real him. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Perhaps it would’ve been better to retreat and slam her door shut that first night. Then she’d currently be continuing her bland state of existence without the boy who’d literally been struck by lightning for her. Then she’d get to escape the impending collapse of her world. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Shaking her head, Katara smiled at Zuko’s stirring form and leaped into his bed-her side was still reserved- with glee. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>She’d have plenty of time to ponder such things when she was forced back into her own bed. Katara was determined to savor every moment she had with Zuko and abandon any faint trace of reservations at the threshold of his room. They had both entered into this knowing the very essence of everything they had was temporary.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Although the motivation of fiery, apocalyptic death no longer drove them, the remnants of the past still inspired urgency as Katara assumed her rightful place snuggled into Zuko’s side. Resting one hand on his bandaged chest, she brought the other up to brush the unruly strands of hair out of his eyes.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Your hair’s gotten so long. You need to cut it,” she whispered softly, closing her eyes at the warmth he provided. Suddenly, the need to complain about the heat disappeared.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I will do no such thing,” he muttered, not giving her suggestion the dignity of opening his eyes.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I could do it for you, you know. Right now, if you have a pair of scissors in here,” Katara offered softly, curling the lock around her finger</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“</span>
  <em>
    <span>You</span>
  </em>
  <span> will do no such thing.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You’re no fun, at all. Why do I even go to the trouble of breaking all the rules to see you, huh?” she teased, answering her own question as she started to trace the location of the lightning scar on his chest instead of hers.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I can’t go to my coronation tomorrow looking like I lost a fight with my swords just to please you,” Zuko groaned, wrapping his arms around her and pulling her closer to him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Like you don’t already look like that?” Katara smirked, scoffing when he flicked her arm softly before bringing his hand to rest in her hair. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You little-why is your hair wet?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It’s your fault. Your country’s so hot I had to put ice cubes in my hair at night,” she explained, exhaustion starting to creep into her voice as she yawned.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I don’t know how you can blame me for the weather, but usually we just open windows here,” Zuko shot back, lazily interlacing his fingers with hers.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She sighed softly into him, letting the bliss of her reality embrace her before whispering, “I missed you.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Face buried in her hair, Zuko managed to rasp out, “Me, too.”</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>part 3 will be here eventually and THIS WILL END AS FLUFF SO HELP ME. but yes i am back here post-agni kai.</p><p>thank you for kudosing, commenting, and reading. you guys are the sweetest.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. stay?</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Day 22: Stay?</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Katara's footsteps were noticeably lighter against the earthen floors as if they, too, were treading on borrowed time.</p><p>This nightly ritual should've ceased as they left behind the polished stone floors of the Fire Nation. Or even sooner, with the wooden tatami of Ember Island. Still, Katara couldn't bring herself to fall asleep alone, not with the knowledge he was within her grasp and so nearby.</p><p>She knew that they wouldn't be able to keep this up after they parted ways and left Ba Sing Se. Katara was well aware that forced separation loomed closer with every inch the moon moved in the sky, making way for tomorrow's sun. Tonight would be the last time she'd get to creep into Zuko's room under the secrecy of darkness and it weighed heavy in her chest.</p><p>There had been many times before where Katara had assured herself it would be the last time, but this was actually it. Any more stalling would be rendered impossible by an expanse of ocean and rules. </p><p>The door to Zuko's room made a loud screeching noise, bamboo against roughly hewn rock, but he didn't rise from the bed. Familiarity left them both wordless as he shifted over to clear her side of the bed and she padded across the room into it. </p><p>Katara felt a heaviness shift onto her side as she slotted into his arms, intermingling with the sense of emptiness that she couldn't dispel. It was strange to be weighed down and untethered at once, so Katara contemplated the feeling as she stared into the shadows of the room. </p><p>His sheets were soft and she inhaled the scent of him contained in them greedily. Katara's pillow was smushed where his face had been planted and she almost smiled, knowing he had pillow lines imprinted into his face because of it.</p><p>"Close your eyes and go to bed," Zuko mumbled sleepily as he buried his face into her loose hair. </p><p>Katara grabbed his wrist and pulled it across her body, tucking her elbow into her chest so she could continue to hold interlace their fingers. "How d'you know they're open?"</p><p>"The back of your head is tense," he replied in barely more than a murmur, muffled by her hair.</p><p>"How can the back of a head look tense?"</p><p>"It doesn't look tense; it feels tense," Zuko stated matter-of-factly, eliciting a small giggle from Katara.</p><p>The nostalgic smile for times not yet gone that graced her face sent pangs of pain through her chest and Katara went quiet. </p><p>"Hey, what's wrong?" he asked with a more serious tone, unearthing himself from her mess of her.</p><p>Katara took a deep breath and willed no tears to fall as the emptiness within her filled with the raging remnants of a broken dam. Her voice portrayed bitter humor as she whispered, "You're an idiot, you know that? My idiot?"</p><p>Zuko pulled her into him further, starting to say, "Katara-" before she cut him off.</p><p>"But you won't be mine after tonight. I'm trying to take it all in so I can remember it when I'm lying in bed alone," she explained, feeling a jagged sharpness expand in her chest as she inhaled.</p><p>The tiniest sliver of light from a waning crescent moon shone into the room as a faint breeze rustled the olive curtains hanging across the windows. All this time, it had been Zuko, Katara, and the moon. After tonight, Katara would still have the moon. Her old friend would comfort her empty bed when her love could not.</p><p>Katara realized at that moment she had never told him that she loved him. Zuko had said it once while twirling his fingers through her hair when he thought she was asleep, but she'd never uttered the words out loud. There was no use now, so it would always remain unsaid. They would always remain unsaid and (hopefully) unknown. Perhaps having such a secret dear to her heart with no one else to share it with would make it more special. Perhaps the knowledge would expand within her until there was no more room and it would break her. There was no way to know.</p><p>Yue's perpetual presence offered some solace, more than Zuko's quiet shushing noises and gentle rocking as she buried her face in his bare chest. "I'll always be yours, Katara. Shhhh, it's okay," he soothed as her hands roamed the lines traced into his face by the pillow, just as she had suspected.</p><p>Katara grimaced, barely able to conjure anything louder than a broken whisper. "I wish I'd never gone into your room that first night. I should've run back to my bed and slammed the door behind me... I don't want to have to say good-bye."</p><p>Zuko pulled away to wipe the tracks of dampness from her cheeks with his thumb. "It won't be good-bye, I promise. We'll see each other again."</p><p>"Zuko, we're going to have to watch each other move one and find other people and start families. All with the knowledge we could've been something great, but never had a chance. How am I supposed to be okay with that? How are you okay with it?" Katara pushed him away.</p><p>Zuko put his index finger to her lips before more hurtful words from a hurt place could come forth, meeting Katara's blue eyes with his piercing amber gaze. The blazing furnace forging molten gold with the power of comets that streaked through a red sky enveloped Katara as his eyes refused to let her go. "I'm just better at hiding it, Katara. But there's going to be a lifetime of regret after tonight. I don't want to waste the last time we have together because of fear."</p><p>Katara responded the only way she could without drowning in the internal flood that roared inside her head. She kissed the fingers pressed to her lips before bringing them around her neck and moving to his lips. It was a flurry of limbs and heat and love after that, hazy and adoring and bittersweet. By the time they collapsed onto each other in a sweaty and exhausted embrace, Katara was too exhausted to feel the regret anymore.</p><p>***</p><p>The next day, Katara woke up from her precariously strewn, naked bliss long before the sun. Still technically hidden by the cover of night, Katara sat up in the bed and gazed at Zuko's sleeping face, void of any emotion or worry. Determined to retain at least some dignity in their final parting so she could rest easy as an old woman reflecting back, Katara leaned in and stroked his cheek with a featherlight touch. It was her good-bye to him.</p><p>Making a split-second decision before rising to sneak back to her own room, Katara leaned into his ear and whispered a parting, "I love you, too, Zuko."</p><p>Some things weren't meant to remain unsaid. Katara started to pull away and slink back into reality when a pale hand shot up and gripped her wrist. She turned around, met by wide, golden eyes that looked watery even in the dark.</p><p>"You-you heard..." he paused for a second before smiling wide. "I don't care what anyone thinks or says. I don't care how hard it is. It'll always be the two of us. Please, Katara. Stay?"</p><p>Throwing reason and caution to the wind blowing outside the nearby window, Katara threw herself back into the bed and his arms, nestling into <em>her </em>spot at the hollow of his throat. </p><p>"I don't ever want to have to sleep in a bed without you," Zuko murmured softly into her ear.</p><p>His hands found their rightful place in her hair and around her waist as she whispered back, "Me, too."</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>huzzah! 3/4 of the way finished. the final (and yes, it will for sure be the last entry) chapter will be for another prompt this december that i'm not going to reveal for the sake of spoilers.</p><p>writing for this series always makes me super nostalgic because it was my first drabble december not-drabble that i hastily wrote right before 12 am and shamelessly broke the word count with. (for sure started this month's trend with writing) </p><p>but it's always fun to come back to and knowing people enjoy reading it makes my heart so happy. thank you all for kudosing, commenting, etc!</p><p>(and just a sidenote: if u've noticed that 'hey, this fic would be a good set up for smut', ur not wrong. however, as demonstrated in this chapter, there will be only subtle allusions to that *stuffs* taking place, because me writing that would be an absolute disaster lol. i am babey and would honestly feel bad for anyone who would read *stuffs* that i wrote, so that will not be happening!)</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. epilogue: home</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Day 31: Home</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Zuko trudged through the empty halls in the shadows of what could no longer be considered night but had now shifted into the stages of early morning. Sighing deeply with the chorus of echoes ringing around him and in his ears, he willed the lead-laden extremities that were his legs to venture forward, despite their protests.</p><p>As he rubbed the exhaustion out of his heavily-lidded eyes, Zuko fumbled the handle of the door at the end of the short hall. Finally succeeding in opening it, the room quieted significantly.</p><p>The shrieks and crying loud enough to travel through many walls had quelled to merely a few little sobs as he approached the crib.</p><p>Zuko raised his eyebrows at the onesie-clad source of the ear-splitting sounds that had woken him and allowed the ghost of a smile to grace his lips. The baby had propped himself up into a half-standing position, steadied by a tight grip on the wooden slats comprising the crib’s walls. Acting as though he had been unfairly jailed instead of put to sleep in his own (very comfortable) room, Zuko’s son had revolted in the middle of the night and now reached out for his father, opening and closing his little, chubby fists in a grabbing motion. </p><p>“You got a set of lungs on you, kid,” Zuko whispered as he pulled the baby up and over his shoulder to pat his back. </p><p>While Zuko and Katara had attempted to ignore the little guy’s cries for the better part of an hour, their assumption that he would eventually tire out and fall back to sleep had been very wrong. Even when it seemed like the impossible had finally been achieved with a few minutes of silence, the child would just be resting and start wailing again with renewed vigor. His iron will (debates as to who he inherited it from were still ongoing) was making sleep-training him a very difficult task.</p><p>Swaying softly to soothe the child, Zuko admired the dimly-lit nursery, adorned in images of ice and snow as well as sun and rain. The collection of stuffed animals, ranging from little otter penguins to dragon plushies to a rendition of Momo gifted by Aang, stared back at him with lifeless eyes. The small whale-bone lamp carved strategically by Sokka projected images of the moon and stars onto the ceiling as it burned. </p><p>This, of course, caused Zuko to cave and he made his way back to his and Katara’s room with the little guy tucked into his chest.</p><p>“I can’t believe you; crying for that long just for attention. Then again, sleeping all alone’s kind of scary, especially when you’re pint-sized. And I guess it’s not such a bad thing that you miss me. Uncle even says I should cherish it because I’ll miss it when you become a teenager and want nothing to do with your parents, ” Zuko laughed softly as the baby tucked his tear-streaked and snot-covered face into Zuko’s shirt, rubbing all of the fluids in.</p><p>Pulling the heavy doors to his bedroom open, Zuko silently stepped inside as Katara called from the bed, “I just fed him. He’s not hungry, right?”</p><p>She didn’t look up from where her face was buried in a pillow, hair strewn across the entire upper half of the bed and subject to static cling. Zuko shifted the baby into one arm as he climbed back into his half of the bed and placed him between himself and Katara.</p><p>Zuko had occupied the same half of the bed the entire time they’d been together since the first night Katara had crawled into it and claimed it. Before he had preferred to sleep in the side Katara occupied but was too amused to say anything. It was now far too late to correct his, but Zuko found he didn’t particularly care.</p><p>“No, just being dramatic and wanting to be with us. He quieted down the second I picked him up,” Zuko replied as the baby made attempts to crawl towards Katara’s haphazardly strewn and open arms.</p><p>Taking pity on the child’s still limited range of motion and inability to crawl correctly, Zuko gave him a little push so he rested contentedly in Katara’s grasp.</p><p>“You’re enabling him, you know that, right? He’s never going to learn how to self-soothe if you give in every time,” Katara warned as she slipped over and tightened her grip around their sun, bringing her to rest his head against her shoulder.</p><p>“Like you weren’t about to go and get him, too,” Zuko shot back with a yawn, curling up around Katara and the little bundle Katara was curled around.</p><p>Katara, drifting back into sleep due to the exhaustion of having a new baby, merely gave an affirmative grunt. Her face went slack with sleep, carrying the same freeness of any burdens as the baby she was holding. </p><p>As Katara’s breaths deepened, Zuko brought a light finger to trace his son’s rounded cheeks before fluffing his soft locks of hair. “You’re fine now, huh? You just don’t like sleeping alone, do you?” Zuko whispered softly as the little one turned his head in sleep, letting out a faint snore.</p><p>“Neither does your mom, too; you must get it from her. That’s actually the reason we got together and eventually had you. We’ll tell you about it one day when you’re older. Or at least, parts of it,” Zuko amended with a small smile.</p><p>Zuko gazed at his little family, unfazed by his words with blank faces and slightly twitching eyelids indicative of dreaming, and sighed. He’d finally found a place in the world; a home. Not in a place, but in a person. Or people, now. It had never mattered where he was, as long as Katara was there to crawl into his bed at night.</p><p>Zuko placed soft kisses on both of their foreheads before closing his eyes to join them. “I suppose I never liked being alone either. So, me, three.”</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>and, yes, the steambaby in this is based on my mom's *many* stories about what a difficult baby i was.</p><p>THAT'S A WRAP. i can't believe i actually did something i said i was going to do. 31/31 days completed (ON TIME) and drabble december is over!!! (we're going to ignore the fact none of what i wrote were really drabbles (more like one-shots) and celebrate!</p><p>this was an amazing experience i'm so grateful to have been apart of. and i'm really happy to end it right where i started, writing only after nightfall literally an hour before the end of the day. </p><p>thank you so much for sticking with me on this wild ride and i will see you all when i come out of my much-needed hibernation!</p>
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